U.S. air safety at risk with traffic controllers as 'pawns' in shutdown, official says

ARLINGTON, Virginia/NEWARK-More than 13,000 U.S. air traffic controllers face rising stress and financial insecurity after Tuesday’s disbursement of what will be their last paycheck during the government shutdown, posing potential risks for air travel, the head of an employee union said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last week that staffing issues among air traffic controllers were to blame for 53% of flight delays since the shutdown, now in its 14th day, compared with 5% in normal times.

And as the political stalemate over government funding drags on, the potential toll on air traffic could worsen, said Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

“(The shutdown) introduces a whole new risk in the air traffic control system, when their focus is now moved from the safety and moving 45,000 planes, 3 million passengers, tons of cargo a day into, ‘Do I have to get another job? Do I have to start driving Uber on the side?’” he said in an interview at Reagan Washington National Airport Tuesday.

Controllers, working in one of the government’s most high-stress professions with responsibility for the smooth and safe flow of air travel, also fear getting caught in the middle as both political parties point fingers at each other over the budget impasse.

“We’re used as the political pawn during the process,” Daniels said.

“We are the rope in this tug of war game that we shouldn’t be the rope. This has nothing to do with us … The real story is that America’s air traffic control system is falling further behind because of this shutdown.”

Daniels met on Tuesday with Duffy at Baltimore/Washington International Airport in Maryland to talk to controllers.

Tens of thousands of federal workers have been sent home and thousands more laid off, as more and more government business grinds to a halt each day without a budget deal in Congress.

Like many who work in government, controllers are missing two days of pay in the check they receive Tuesday and will not get any paycheck on October 28 if the budget standoff is not concluded.

More than 50,000 Transportation Security Administration officers are also working without pay.

Air traffic has already slowed at times in some cities, as many air traffic controllers called in sick, roiling air travelers.

“On top of the stress they’re already dealing with, in the towers, or in the security lines, they’re now wondering how they’re going to pay their rent and mortgage,” Democratic Representative Josh Gottheimer told reporters at Newark International Airport on Tuesday. “Yet, like so many other government workers are still showing up to keep our country and our economy running.”

The Federal Aviation Administration has been facing an air traffic controller staffing shortage for more than a decade, and many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown. The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels.

In 2019, during a 35-day shutdown, the number of absences by controllers and TSA officers rose as workers missed paychecks, extending checkpoint wait times at some airports. Authorities were forced to slow air traffic in New York, which put pressure on lawmakers to quickly end the standoff.

Daniels said the Transportation Department clarified controllers will get paid for sick time for which they are legally entitled during the shutdown, once it ends.

Duffy has urged controllers to keep working. Officials said staffing issues did not pose a significant issue over a three-day U.S. holiday weekend that just ended.